'Girls of Steel' Advance to National Robotics Competition

Two Pine-Richland freshmen will compete in a national competition soon as part of a Girls of Steel Robotics Team.

Samantha Holland and Kaylyn Rocher are part of a team that includes a robot named Watson and nearly 60 girls from more than 20 area high schools.  

The team will participate in the St. Louis National Championship Competition from April 25 to 28.

It qualified by winning the Engineering Inspiration award at the “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” (FIRST) Pittsburgh Regional Robotics Competition, which was held March 8-10 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh.

In addition, the team earned the Volunteer of the Year, Website Award and the Dean's List awards.

At the Pittsburgh competition, the teams competed in a game called Rebound Rumble (SM), which is played by two competing alliances on a flat 27-by-54-foot field. 

Each alliance consists of three robots. The teams operate the robots to score as many basketballs into their hoops as they can during a two-minute match.

In all, 44 teams competed from the Pittsburgh area, as well as Ohio, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Canada.

The team is supported by the Robotics Institute's Field Robotics Center at Carnegie Mellon University and a number of academic, governmental and business sponsors.